Romancing the Rough Diamond

by Clare London

  How the hell had this happened? Yes, Starsmith would negotiate merchandising with their approved suppliers, and yes, millions of people would want to copy the style of a royal treasure after they saw it at the wedding. But none of that had been fully contracted yet, let alone released into production.

  “You wanna buy that, mister?”

  “I… what?” Joel barely registered the shopkeeper’s words.

  “The teddy. It’s new stock, arrived yesterday. You wanna buy one?” The man looked calculating. He could probably see Joel’s smart suit and guess at his salary. “Wanna deal on wholesale? I can do that for you.”

  “This design….”

  “Yeah,” the man said carelessly. “For the royal wedding this summer, they said.”

  “Where did you get it?” Joel’s voice sounded too sharp, but he couldn’t help himself.

  “Whaddya mean? I got a whole pack of stuff. I just order from the catalog, whatever’s new, whatever’s gonna sell well.”

  “It’s not licensed. It can’t be.”

  The man looked decidedly shifty. “Don’t know about that. You’ll have to talk to the owner. He does all the buying. He’s away at the moment.”

  I bet he bloody is! Joel’s anger and horror were bubbling inside him like a geyser about to pop. “Tell me where the hell you got it!” He brandished the teddy in front of the man’s startled face. Out of the corner of his eye, he realized the tourist family was still there, now engrossed in the scene.

  “What the fuck you playing at? Get away from me!” the shopkeeper yelled, squaring up to Joel. “Give me that back or I’ll call the police!” He grabbed at the bear, but Joel hung on tight. They tugged it fiercely between them. Joel heard the rip of stitching giving way, felt one of the toy’s arms jerk free.

  “Call them!” he snapped. The situation was ridiculous, he knew it intellectually, but he didn’t seem to have any control over his actions. How could the cheap souvenir manufacturers have the design in production already? He knew, of course, that manufacturers could quickly turn around a design after seeing it in the fashion or celebrity press, but how had they found it in the first place? There hadn’t been any public photos of it so far—the palace had insisted on that. The only way anyone could have got hold of it was if someone from Starsmith had leaked the design—

  The mere thought of that brought on fresh nausea.

  “Call the police!” he repeated. “Bring it on!” The fury was like a red mist in front of his eyes. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this angry, but then shit, yes, he could. It had been when the police came to his house in the small hours of the morning when he was barely seventeen, his dad arguing with the officers and his mother screaming pleas at them, as they searched the house for incriminating evidence of the fraudulent scheme. They’d found his dad’s laptop—some crappy model that Joel couldn’t even play games on—and arrested his parents. A shocked neighbor held him in a hug, trying to calm him, reassuring the police she’d look after him until morning. Until his parents would get bail. Which they never did, of course. They were considered a flight risk—after all, they’d been fleeing from one scam after another, for years—and they’d been taken finally to trial and sentencing.

  When he next saw them, they were in jail. He remembered telling them this was the last time he wanted to move house to avoid criminal investigations, the last time he wanted to be bullied into answering tearful or angry phone calls from victims at all hours of the day or night, the last time he wanted to lie and say he had no idea where his parents were or when they’d be back.

  The last time he wanted to see them at all.

  He’d left the jail that day without wavering in his ultimatum. He’d been in tears while he walked out with an aunt who’d offered to take him in until he left school. He’d never seen them since.

  And now?

  Now, the anger swamped his self-control with a tsunami of emotion. This stupid, cheap item he held squashed in the shop assistant’s face was just a symptom of his anger, his betrayal, his fear of losing everything he’d worked for, everything he cared about. Everyone he cared about! Because someone he knew must have leaked the design. Someone he knew and trusted. Someone he didn’t realize had a grudge against Starsmith, against him.

  Or perhaps someone he knew who did.

  You let him into your heart.

  Joel would never know what he might have done next—whether he would have hit the man or called the police himself or ripped to pieces every damned, ridiculous, traitorous soft toy he could find. Because he was suddenly startled by the flash of a mobile phone camera and realized a group had gathered around him and the man struggling in the shop, in full view of one of London’s busiest Tube stations.

  And at least three of them were filming him.

  BY the time Joel left the police station after giving a statement and promising full financial retribution to the shop owner—for a ripped teddy bear, the upset of several shelves of souvenirs, and apparently a large amount of mental anguish despite the shop assistant looking nothing but smug after Joel was taken away—Teresa was there to collect him. When Joel had called her, she’d offered to bring the Starsmith legal representative with her as well, but he refused. The humiliation was bad enough with just her to witness it. They were silent on the way back to the office. She offered to explain to everyone if he needed to take the rest of the day off, but he insisted on going straight back in to join the design team.

  The news had somehow reached the boardroom before Joel himself. He met a bunch of pale, startled, and largely sympathetic faces.

  “Hey, boss,” Addam said. “You okay now?”

  “No,” Joel said. His voice didn’t sound strong enough.

  “Honey.” Teresa nudged him down into a chair. She looked like she wanted to hug him, but she could probably see he was barely holding himself together as it was. “It was just a silly disagreement. They’ve said they won’t press charges now you’ve paid for any damage.”

  Joel shook his head with despair. “It was filmed.”

  “It was…?” A murmur of shock ran around the team.

  “Some people had mobile phones. That’s what happens with every outrageous event nowadays, isn’t it? They film it and upload it to YouTube. It’s probably already there.” Addam sucked in a breath behind him. That meant, Joel assumed wearily, that it already was. “Tell me, Addam.”

  Addam glanced between Joel and Teresa, who was even paler than before. “The headlines include Enraged Executive Smashes Souvenirs. Diamond Man Goes Ballistic. I’m ignoring the more sensationalist Frenzied Teddy Massacre in London Store.”

  “Oh God. I should resign.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous!” Teresa exclaimed.

  “At the very least, I’ll have to drop out of Project Palace. Who wants a YouTube lunatic involved in one of their Royal Family’s happiest days?”

  Addam sighed. “What possessed you?”

  And that had been the problem, hadn’t it? Joel had felt possessed, just for that brief, anguished time.

  The door from the corridor opened, and Matt entered, carrying supplies from the local sandwich shop for everyone. “What’s going on?” he asked. He sounded confused. They all turned slowly to look at him.

  Doesn’t he know?

  “Joel found a public print of the Project Palace crown,” Teresa explained. “In a souvenir shop at Mayfair Tube station. On a teddy bear’s T-shirt.”

  Joel closed his eyes briefly. He was eternally grateful no one laughed, but said baldly like that, how ridiculous did it sound? How stupid had he been?

  “What the hell?” Matt looked and sounded shocked. “How can that have happened?”

  “We don’t know,” Addam said. “We all know that Joel locks everything up. And we haven’t allowed any outsiders into the project meetings.”

  “So what does that mean?”

  Joel met Matt’s gaze. For a moment, he thought he saw sympathy, distress on Joel’s behalf, a
nger in his defense. But maybe Joel was projecting a dwindling hope. “It means it wasn’t an outsider.”

  “Are you sure it was our design?”

  “Of course I am.” Joel’s anger started to bubble inside again. “I know what I saw. I know what’s happened.”

  Matt’s eyes darkened. “What are you implying?”

  “Joel—” Addam said quietly, looking between them.

  But Joel ignored him, his eyes still on Matt. “Someone has leaked our design to the public. Maybe sold it to make money, maybe just released enough confidential details to cause us reputational harm.”

  Matt flushed. “Wait a minute here. Do you mean me?”

  “Matt!” Teresa was trying to calm things down. “He never said anything of the sort.”

  “No, he didn’t,” Matt said slowly. “But he meant it.”

  “All I’m saying is, I’ve never known it to happen before.” Joel could hear himself speaking, could see the shock in Matt’s face, could feel the sudden tension in the room. It was as if he was possessed again, forcing him to speak the unforgiveable. “The team has been together for several years. Starsmith never had any issues with confidentiality before.”

  “What are you implying? Say it aloud. Don’t mince corporate words with me.” Matt’s mouth had set in a thin, hard line, so unlike the soft, demanding lips Joel had kissed only that morning, laughing, protesting they both needed to get dressed or they really would be late. His eyes, soft this morning with pleasure and satisfaction, were now alight with growing anger. “Or deny it to my face!”

  “Jesus, will you both shut up?” Addam said loudly. He’d unconsciously taken a step between them, like a referee in the argument. “Joel, you’ve been in a stressful situation. Matt, chill. This is a royal commission, remember?”

  “I’m hardly likely to forget, am I?” Matt said thickly. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides.

  Addam winced. “I mean, everyone and his damned dog is interested in what’s actually going to appear. We’ve never had this level of public interest before. It could have been anyone, tempted to talk out of turn, to let loose a secret, however small. Or it could have been a coincidence—”

  “No,” Joel broke in harshly. “No coincidence.”

  “What he means is,” Matt almost spat out, “it’s no coincidence that the one difference to the team this time around is me. And we all know how I feel about Starsmith, don’t we? It’s not as if I ever made a secret of how I feel about your business practices.”

  “Matt, stop before you say something you can’t take back,” Addam said.

  “No.” Joel talked across Addam again. “Let him speak.”

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Damning myself from my own mouth.” There was a damp sheen to Matt’s eyes. Fury… or some other emotion?

  “This is awful,” Teresa moaned softly.

  “You have no justification to accuse me,” Matt said. His voice was quieter, but so much colder.

  “You’re the one staying with Dan Llewellyn. How long have you two been working together?” Joel countered.

  “What?” Teresa said.

  Matt’s eyes widened. “Dan? He’s an old friend of Caro’s. They were at uni together. Then she met and married Gary, and Dan went off on some highflier career in London. But she suggested I look him up and beg a bed for while I was working here. So I could spend more time on your damned project, more time at your fucking beck and call.”

  “My damned project? You were keen to be part of the team, I seem to remember.”

  “You were desperate to bring me in on it!”

  “What’s all this got to do with Dan Llewellyn?” Addam asked.

  “He works for Marchant’s.” Joel was unable to tear his gaze from Matt for more than a few seconds. Did he think that Matt would suddenly make a run for it? Take a swing at Joel? Burst into bloody flames? He could barely order his thoughts, but suspicion iced through them all, a cold and solid lump in his chest. “They’re jealous of Starsmith’s reputation. They must be furious we’ve won a commission like this. And industry gossip says they don’t always play by the rules. You must know that.”

  “What if I do? It doesn’t make any bloody difference to me.” Matt glanced distractedly at the others, catching their startled, shocked gazes. “Look, I barely know Dan. There are two other guys in the flat, and I’m sleeping on the sofa. It’s like rush-hour Waterloo Station most of the time, with them coming and going on different jobs. It’s not like anyone has time to stop and have heartfelt conversations with me.”

  “You can’t be so naïve.” Joel heard his voice as if from another person, glacial and distant. So hard, so determined to attack. “Marchant’s has plenty of contacts with souvenir manufacturers worldwide. Dan wouldn’t need to hear much about Project Palace to pick up on it straightaway. What a coup, to cash in on our commission, plus a blow to Starsmith’s privilege!”

  “I didn’t say anything,” Matt said curtly. “He wouldn’t have heard anything from me.”

  “So you say.”

  There was a sudden, horrified silence. Joel heard his words echoing in the room like small, deadly shots, all aimed at the very heart of things. It was too late to bite anything back.

  “That’s enough,” Addam said, his voice a harsh interruption. “You have no reason to think any of us would do this, Joel. And Matt, listen to me—”

  “No.” Matt stepped back, jerkily, as if his legs weren’t steady enough to hold him. His fists were so firmly clenched, Joel could see the whiteness of his knuckles. “That isn’t the issue, is it? It’s not whether or not I might have talked about Starsmith’s work with Dan. It’s that you thought I might.”

  The look on Matt’s face was horrible. The look of betrayal and disgust hit Joel as firmly as a physical blow. But—oh God—it still didn’t shut him up. “What am I supposed to think?”

  “That,” Matt said, his words shaking for the first time. “That is the whole damn point.” And he turned, strode out of the room, and slammed the door behind him.

  Chapter Twenty

  “HE didn’t mean it,” Teresa said. She’d caught up with Matt outside Starsmith’s building while he waited for a cab. If it wasn’t for Teresa’s hand on his arm, Matt would already be on his way home. He let several taxis go by while she spoke.

  “He bloody did.”

  She sighed. “Maybe at the time. But it’s not true. We all believe that. And so does Joel, in his heart.”

  “Sorry, Teresa, but I doubt that. You’re a loyal team member, but I’m taking myself off that team, as of now.” He should never have imagined he was part of it in the first place.

  “What will you do?”

  “Do?” His laugh was bitter. What the hell did it all matter now anyway? “I’ll go back to what and where I was before the gracious Lord Sterling picked me off the scrap heap and threw me a crumb of a job.”

  “But everything you’ve done so far—”

  “You can keep it all,” he interrupted her rudely. “I don’t want any credit. I don’t want anything from Starsmith.”

  “Can you just shut up for a damn moment?” she snapped, startling him. “I’m not interested in that. You’ll remember you signed the contract, which included ownership of copyright clauses, nondisclosure terms, and what happens in the case of termination, forced or otherwise. But I’m not talking about the bloody legalities!”

  Matt had never seen her so incensed. “Um. Sorry.”

  “Okay.” She took a breath and stepped back against the outside wall.

  Matt followed her, though reluctantly, moving out of the way of passing pedestrians.

  “I’m worried about you,” she said. “And Joel. In fact, the pair of you. I’ve realized over the last few weeks he cares about you, Matt. Something’s been brewing between you since the first day you arrived.”

  “Before then, actually.”

  “Really?” She raised her eyebrows and smirked. “Okay. So Addam and I were rig
ht to suspect it. You don’t need to give me details, but isn’t it worth trying to sort this out, rather than run away?”

  “I’m not the one who called me a traitor.”

  She bit her lip as if measuring her words carefully. “Matt, you’ve always been honest with us. It was difficult at first, I know, to see us as your team rather than your opposition.”

  Damn her for being so perceptive. He’d grown both to respect and like Teresa in the time he’d been here. She continued to stare at him with those sympathetic eyes.

  “So I wasn’t entirely blameless. I knew Dan worked for the competition. But I would never have said anything about the project. Not that he didn’t try and probe me for information, the stupid arse.”

  “I know Dan from trade events. I know he would have tried.”

  They smiled ruefully together. Matt felt the burning knot of anger and humiliation in his chest start to thaw a little.

  “And I also know he wouldn’t have succeeded with you,” she said softly.

  “Pity Joel doesn’t have your faith.”

  “Matt, he’s defended you time and again.” At his raised eyebrows, she flushed and continued, “You don’t see it. I hear him on the phone to the palace aides, and he’s always given you credit for the ideas. He’s loyal to his team, of course, but when he talks to anyone about bringing you in on Project Palace, his enthusiasm and admiration for you shine through.” Her flush got even deeper. “It’s partly why I started to look for something more happening between you.”

  “He… never said.” Matt felt oddly tongue-tied. Had Joel really been so supportive of Matt at work? Had his commitment really been more than just the insane attraction they shared outside of the office? With a shock, Matt realized how much that meant to him.

  “I don’t know what happened today.” Teresa was looking seriously worried. “He’s usually so controlled. He just lost it. A combination of the shock, I suppose, of finding our project was apparently compromised, and….”